2024 - MOCA Arlington
Assembly 2024: Horizon Scanning highlights artists whose work grapples with the future, often by taking a hard look at both the past and the present.
@shelbyshadwell’s “BIG COAL 1” confronts viewers with a substance that undergirds contemporary life, yet remains largely out of sight. Shadwell’s journalistic rendering of coal evokes its myriad histories, cultural associations, and connotations with a neutral directness that refuses to dictate the viewers’ response.
“BIG COAL 1” invites viewers to consider anthracite coal as a material object, a combustible rock that both enabled and now threatens modern human existence. In the context of Horizon Scanning, Shadwell’s work acknowledges the inescapability of legacy infrastructure. Systems that have developed over decades or centuries won’t simply disappear. We will need to grapple with and transform them to build a stronger future.
Don’t miss seeing work by Shelby and the other amazing artists in person. Assembly 2024: Horizon Scanning closes this Sunday, January 26!
Artwork images:
1. “BIG COAL 1,” 2022, Charcoal and pastel on polyester, 85 x 85 in.
2. “BIG COAL 1” (detail), 2022
All photos by Vivian Marie Doering
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